Stretching my mind back a long way, I remember that during my first ever play through of FF7, the main party I chose for Disc 1 consisted of Cloud, Aeris and Tifa. I remember this because I had a crush on two girls of whom Aeris and Tifa reminded me, so being a teenage boy, I named the characters after them and off I went. After Disc 1, with Aeris out of action, I filled her space with Cid - I found him quite a badass and this was reinforced when he took over as leader of your party during Cloud's "illness".

On subsequent play throughs, I pretty much disowned Aeris - knowing what happened to her, I didn't want to waste XP or Sources on her puny frames. I therefore played a lot more with Red XIII in the early stages.Now, as I prepare to play for the first time in probably more than 5 years, I'm going to grind out every character to gather all the weapons, master materia and limits - something that embarrassingly I've never bother to do. But I think my ultimate preferred party is still Cloud, Tifa and Cid.

I always had Tifa part of the team from the very first time I played FFVII. I kept Aerith in my party too most of the time but it keeps annoying me how she leaves, I accept her death but it's so hard to hack her... anyway. I would probably go with Tifa, Cloud and Nanaki, even if I could change Cloud I would keep him with Tifa being the leader.

On several playthroughs I tend to train Aeris a lot, so I get to see her weapons and limit breaks before she's gone.

I like Barret, Nanaki, Yuffie is interesting! Tifa is never wrong to have. Vincent is sometimes very useful because of his superpower form of limit breaks, and all cool. OK sounds like I chose all characters

The Slider wrote:But I think my ultimate preferred party is still Cloud, Tifa and Cid.

Cid is a bit boring as a battle character to me, and he appears so late in the game that I have already personalised other party members. He's cool in the story though.

But in the end I usually choose a new party on each playthrough - except Cid you know =P

My first party combination was Cloud, Vincent and Nanaki. I couldn't be bothered to get Yuffie until a few stages before Cloud fell into that coma, but when I got her, she was instantly replacing Nanaki. Well, after the cheeky little blighter stole all my materia. And stole that MP Absorb materia I found in the chest whilst trying to find my materia. And made me fight her dad. And gave me back my materia. In the wrong order. Anyways, no hard feelings, Nana. You'd replace Cloud if it was possible.

My standard party towards the end consisted of Cid and Barrett. Cid was a total badass. Barrett was cool too, but he also used ranged attacks and could sit in the rear without penalty, and plus he could attack any flying monsters.

Her higher-level limit breaks are hard to pull off once they all start stacking up. That was always my main problem with her.

Ambigore wrote:My standard party towards the end consisted of Cid and Barrett. Cid was a total badass. Barrett was cool too, but he also used ranged attacks and could sit in the rear without penalty, and plus he could attack any flying monsters.

Never had a "chosen party", but I always liked Cid. However, I prefer Yuffie over Barret/Vincent when it comes to long-range characters once she gets the Conformer. It's the mophing boost that that weapon gives her

In terms of end-game powerhousing, it is of course Cloud, Barrett, Cid, but that's not really what we're talking about.

On my first playthrough, I ran Cloud, Aeris, Tifa, and swapped in Barrett when Aeris was off on her travels. There is a wonderful scene on the exit from Midgar where Barrett asks you pick the two parties, and if you take both the girls with you he goes 'Heh, figures' (or words to that effect).

I've mixed it up a bit more on other playthroughs, but I like Tifa so much that I find it a genuine wrench to not have her with me.

I think I used to play with Cloud Tifa and Aeris. like how Aeris attacked with her staff and I liked Tifa over Barrett and RedXIII, but after playing the game so much I think I always go for Vincent Tifa and Cid when I have the chance now.I feel that Vincent and Tifa are the ones with the closest bond to the heart of the story (apart from Cloud) and I like Cid over Cloud because I have a soft spot for not fit for purpose hero characters put in the role:)

I know this thread is quite old, but I thought I'd chime in anyway. My first disc one party was, and has always been, the classic trio: Cloud, Tifa and Aeris. I can't for the life of me remember who I replaced Aeris with the first time around, but on subsequent playthroughs I have typically brought in either Barrett, Vincent or Yuffie, though Cid and Red XIII have seen plenty of action as well. And my party for when Cid takes over always depends on who's in my post-Aeris party, i.e., whoever's in that isn't in Cid's party. Gotta give the underplayed characters some love every now and then!